No Easy Day now on sale

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(Photo: Branne Carter)

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(AP, ABC7) - The insider account of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden is now on sale despite a Pentagon warning of possible legal action against the book's author and unspecified associates.

"At this time, we see no reason to change our plans," Christine Ball, a spokeswoman for the publisher, Penguin Group (USA)'s Dutton imprint, said in a statement.

Before the Pentagon's warning, Dutton had moved up publication to Sept. 4 from Sept. 11, saying that it was "important to put 'No Easy Day' on sale and let the book speak for itself."

Pre-orders for the book have catapulted it to No. 1 on Amazon's best-seller list, displacing the erotic trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey."

An initial print run of 200,000 has been increased to 575,000 copies. It was highly unlikely that the government would try to halt publication of the book itself, considering that a limited number of advance copies are already in the public domain and media reports have summarized the book's contents.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the book's author, ex-SEAL Matt Bissonnette, was in violation of two nondisclosure agreements that he signed in 2007 by failing to submit the book for an official security review before it was published.

Bissonnette's lawyer disputed this Friday, saying he believes the decorated former SEAL has "earned the right to tell his story."

Little would not say what legal options the Pentagon is considering or when it might take action.

Little suggested that the Pentagon might be satisfied if Bissonnette were to stop the book's official release.

The Pentagon obtained an advance copy last week and has since been reviewing it for any classified information and to determine what, if any, legal action should be taken, Little said.

"The onus is on the author," Little said, while declining to spell out what the author must do.

Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon's top lawyer, notified Bissonnette that the Pentagon believes he is in "material breach and violation" of two nondisclosure agreements and of a related document he signed upon leaving active duty in April 2012.

In a letter faxed to Bissonnette through his publisher, he was advised by Johnson that "further public dissemination of your book will aggravate your breach and violation of your agreements."

Johnson said the Pentagon is "considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us in light of this situation."

In response, Robert D. Luskin of the law firm Patton Boggs wrote to Johnson on Friday that his firm is representing Bissonnette and asserting that he is not in breach of his nondisclosure agreements.

Luskin, who represented White House aide Karl Rove in the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity in the Bush administration, said the author had "sought legal advice about his responsibilities before agreeing to publish his book and scrupulously reviewed the work to ensure that it did not disclose any material that would breach his agreements or put his former comrades at risk. He remains confident that he has faithfully fulfilled his duty."